DELEGATES CONDEMN EX-PRESIDENT

Ex-president Birt Showler’s

of ex-president Showler.”

until the next meeting.

were “members of the LPP”.)

Showler’s fuling rapped

nominations of George Gee (Electrical) and Tom Parkin (Fishetr-
men) at Vancouver Trades and Labor Council elections two weeks
ago was roundly condemned by council delegates Tuesday night.

A resolution on Showier’s arbitrary rulings was introduced
by George Gee, and after some sharp discussion was passed by
a large majority. It read: “We ask the Trades and Labor Council
to condemn and rescind these actions and undemocratic rulings

Fishermen’s delegates attacked Showler’s rulings as “complete-
ly unconstitutional and arbitrary” and, brought forward a second
resolution similar to that of the Electrical Workers. It. was tabled

Tom Parkin had challenged any delegate
that during his three terms on the executive he had done anything’
detrimental to the council. Showler, sitting as a ‘delegate, remained
silent, (Showler had barred the nominees on the grounds they

Council delegates indignantly rejected the excuse offered by
acting federal minister of labo, Paul Martin, of why there are
no public washroom facilities in the Alvin building, Unemployment
Insurance Commission headquarters, and reiterated their demand
_ that such facilities be made available. Martin’s lame excuse was
that where there are public toilets “there is a tendency for people
to loiter and cause overcrowding.”

dictatorial action in ruling out

é
in the hall to prove

Works plan drawn up
by Courtenay jobless

COURTENAY, B.C.

Jobs at decent wages and direct financial assistance for unemployed
workers are two of the main objectives of the newly former Courtenay
Unemployed Action Association, established at a meeting here on Feb-

ruary 18.

Five-point program of the organization demands increased unem-

ployment benefits, continuation of
benefits until suitable work is
found, direct financial! assistance
for families in need, and civic, pro-
vincial and federal works pro-
grams,

. Concrete plans were projected
for a works program to recon-
struct eight secondary roads in
the district, build four , new
bridges, construct new school
rooms, and other civic work.
Workers at the meeting pointed

own

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out that they do not intend to
“take to box cars’ as was done
during the “Hungry Thirties”, but
will stay in the community and
fight for work.

The CUAA will conduct a cam-
paign to win support of all people
in the community to put its pro-
gram into effect.

Committee members elected
were J. Hansen, G. Couper, J.
Higgin, J. Bell, O. Driesen, J. E.
Clayton, A. Armella, W. Stewart,
J. Maxwell and H, Jones.

Next meeting of the Association
will be held this coming Saturday,
February 25, at 2 p.m. in Native
Sons Hall, Courtenay.

Sendoff planned -
for delegates

B.C. delegates to the convention
of the Congress of Canadian
Women in Toronto, March 9 - 11,

will be given a big sendoff at a |

concert-meeting in Pender Audi-
torium on Sunday afternoon,
March 5. ‘

The affair, in addition to honor-
ing the delegates, will celebrate
International Women's Day, which
had its inception in Copenhagen
in 1910.

Program at the Pender will in-
clude music, a skit, dances by
members of the United Ukrainian-
Canadian Organization, reading of
a peace poem, and greetings from
a representative of the Chinese
people. Refreshments will be
served.

The committee in charge of the
concert-meeting stresses that it is
“a° family affair’ and hopes that
men will attend in large numbers.
Admission is 35 cents. Tickets may
be obtained from Mrs. Julia Rigby,
FA, 9320R, and Mrs. Mona Mor-
gan, FA. 2351R; or at the People’s
Cooperative Bookstore, _ 337 West
Pender, MA. 5836.

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Transfer & Fuel
% CEDAR, B.C.

Soviet people astonished
country ‘as rich as Canada’
can’t provide jobs for all

By BERT WHYTE

“The only curtains I saw on my trip to the Soviet Union were in Moscow department stores, and they
weren't iron ones,” Mary Kardash, one of the Canadian delegates to the recent conference sponsored by the
World Federation of Democratic Women, told me when I interviewed her in Vancouver this week—she
has been addressing a number of meetings in this province. “‘But that isn’t what I want to talk about. I want
to tell you about the great peace conference I attended.” :

“No,” I said, “save that for the
news columns. I want to ask you
about other things. The people you

met. The stores you shopped in..
The children. Your impressions of
Moscow.”

“Well,” observed Mary Kardash,
“We rolled into Moscow on a fast
train from Kiev. There were four
of us in our compartment; Dorise
Nielsen, Eslanda Robeson, Muriel
Draper and I, At the station some
members of the Soviet Women’s
Anti-fascist Committee met us,
gave us a real warm welcome, you
know, none of our handshakes, but
hugs and kisses. Then we were
hustled to our hotel, the National,
facing the Kremlin.

“Much of our time was taken up
with meetings, but we did manage
to go on a shopping tour. It was
just before the New Year holiday,
and the department stores were
jammed, At first we tried to com-
pare prices by figuring out the rate
of exchange, but soon we realized

that such comparisons held no
meaning. The important thing
was, the shelves were filled with

goods and the people had money to
buy. And how they were buying!
We couldn’t get near some coun-
ters at all.”

“How do the women dress in
Moscow? By our style standards,
I mean.”

Mary Kardash laughed. “They
never went for the New Look,” she
said. “But I thought their clothes
were very smart and attractive.
They adapt certain features of na-
tional costumes to modern dress,
which adds color and helps to cre-
ate distinctive styles. Hats are
quite intricate, too, and this year
they were going in for lots of net-
ting.”

“Canadian women’s hats are in-
tricate enough for me,” I. said.
“Let’s go on, leaving the hats be-

hind. What about the shortages
we read about in the capitalist

press. You know, no silk stock-
ings, no soap, no ice cream cones
for the kids.”

“Oh, I was given two pairs of
nylons as a gift, in a textile mill
in Kiev,” said Mary. “About the
same as our 45-gauge nylons. Ice
cream? There was plenty of ice
cream, Why bring that up?”

“Just bécause a UBC professor
was hitting the front pages of the
local dailies a few months ago by
claiming Soviet children have never
seen an ice cream cone,” I explain-
ed,

“How silly!” said Mary. There’s
plenty of food in the Soviet Un-
ion, plenty of soap, plenty of
ice cream — in fact, more and
more goods, including luxury
goods, are appearing all the time,
I was told by people I met in the
shops.”

“How about housing?”

“Moscow is a big city, and an old
city. It is 800 years old, and has
a population of 6,000,000. The cen-
ter is a combination of old and
modern buildings. I visited the
outskirts and must admit that I
was surprised to see many old
frame ‘buildings. But on most
streets, behind the shacks, beauti-
ful new apartment buildings were
being constructed. As they are
completed, the shacks are torn
down, streets are widened and the’
boulevards planted, It is an exam-
ple of city planning we could well

STANTON & MUNRO
Barristers, Solicitors, Notaries
SUITE 515, FORD BUILDING, 193 E. HASTINGS ST.
(Corner Main & Hastings Sts.) MArine 5746

Mary Kardash at Moscow

Canadian delegates Dorise Nielsen (center), Libbie Park (left)

and Mary Kardash (right) at the
Women conference in Moscow in

World Federation of Democratic
November 1949. This week Mary

Kardash, wife of William Kardash, LPP member of the Manitoba
legislature, addressed peace meetings in Vancouver, New Westmin-
ster, Steveston, Victoria and Port Alberni. Some impressions of her
visit to the Soviet Union are given in the accompanying interview

with a Pacific Tribune reporter.

afford to copy.”

“What impressed you most
the Soviet Union?” I asked her.

“There were two things, the
treatment of children and the po-
sition of women. Those women!
They do everything from running
factories to running trains! I met
Zinaida Troitskay, assistant chief
of the Metro, who said, “I'd like
to correspond with a woman engi-
neer in Canada.’ I hemmed and
hawed, finally said I couldn’t think
of any Canadian women engineers
offhand.

“The Soviet women didn’t quite
understand when I told them I
was just a housewife. ‘Yes, of
course, but what is your profes-
sion?’ they would ask me.

“I visited children's theaters in
Moscow, Kiev and Lvov. The fin-
est artists put on plays for the
children. I have two children of
my own, a boy of nine and a girl
of six. The Soviet children de-
lighted me. They get wonderful
care and treatment in the schools,
kindergartens and creches, and are
brought up in a spirit of friendship
and respect for all races and peo-
ples.

“One little boy, about 10, asked

in |

for my program at a children’s
theater and wrote on it, ‘eredaem |
privet Kanadskam detyam’ . -
which means, ‘Give our greetings
to the Canadian children.’
“Durmg my visit to Kiev and
other Ukrainian cities I saw how
war, had ravished the land. I saw. }
too, how people had suffered. under |
the rule of the Nazis. I saw thou- |
sands of war orphans. |
“I saw the people rebuilding their ;
land. I saw thousands of schools, '

homes and cultural centers spring-
ing from the rubble. I saw a land
without unemployment — indeed,
when [I talked to the people they
simply could not understand how
a country as rich as Canada, with
only a small population, could not
provide jobs for al] its workers.
‘Here there is a shortage of labor’
they told me.

“And they all told me something
else, They want peace. Here is
how one woman in Kiev put it:
‘IT. am sure you have never met
anyone in the Soviet Union who
desired to fight America or any
other nation. But I also want to:
tell you this. We know what war
is. We've suffered. We've lest our
homes. Yes, we know what war
is and we don’t want your people
to suffer as we have suffered. But
let me add, we’re not afraid of war.
If any nation attacks us, we will
defend our way of life, and we
will defeat that aggressor nation
just as we defeated Hitler’.”

EAST END

TAXI |}

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PACIFIC TRIBUNE—FEBRUARY 24,

1950—PAGE